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News Posted on June 5, 2014

Dean Johnson Comments on Citizenship and Military Service Bill for KPCC

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for Southern California Public Radio station KPCC on a proposal to let undocumented immigrants serve in the military as a way of obtaining a path to citizenship. The bill known as the ENLIST Act has failed to gain traction in Congress, but has garnered some support from immigration advocates who previously shunned military-only legalization in favor of broader reform, the article notes.

"In the past, there were some Democratic legislators and some immigrant rights groups who said we need across-the-board reform, not piecemeal reform," Dean Johnson said. "I think that's going a bit by the wayside, because we have been involved in this debate for so long, and people are just looking for some kind of - even if it's relatively small-scale - relief for some groups of immigrants."

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.